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Now that the presidential election in France has been settled, it is time to soberly assess the expat choice ahead of me: move to the city of Nice for a spell, or hang out in Gouna on the Red Sea Riviera.

It was obvious in the months leading up to the election that if Marine Le Pen had won, France would be out.

Why move from one country controlled by a right-wing junta (USA) to another (France, had Le Pen had been elected)?

View of Abou Tig Marina from my flat in Gouna

So around February, when things were not looking that rosy for Macron, I rented a place for 2 months in Gouna, starting in September.

My rationale was, if the principles I believe in (yanno, small things like honest elections, for instance) have been eclipsed everywhere, then why not move to a Lala land by-the-sea?

But then Macron was elected, and Nice went for him 60 per cent.

That’s what happens when you don’t have an Ozzie octogenarian slimeball own media properties in your country.

But… but… did that put Nice, given my limited budget, really back on the table?

My wife stitched this

Yes, of course my wife and I could scrape by… but do I really want to lead the Ramen life on the French riviera? It isn’t cheap to maintain two households in 2 countries, and I am not a wealthy individual who can easily afford such a proposition.

Another thing, would I be able to make friends in France? For real?

By way of contrast, I already know quasi moody people in sunny Gouna, some since childhood, and my standard of living would be considerably higher than the South of France.

So the Gouna choice would entail: rent there from mid Sept thru, say, March, while scrupulously avoiding noticing anything that might disturb our principles, then come back to FLA for 6 months, take care of business here, rinse, and repeat.

Sometimes, life becomes a choice between lesser evils.

If I were 30, I would of course move today (and I mean today, I would take the next flight out, bro) to Paris, find a job in tech (I am bilingual, and have an EU passport), and that would be the end of it.

But I am not 30; age has its consequences.

Plus the US dollar is currently at 18 LEs (Egyptians Pounds). That means the easy life. Lots of trips of up and down the Red Sea, to beautiful and still relatively unspoiled locales, such as Sharm el Louli down by Marsa Alam, or some of these incredible islands.

Money does have a way of talking.

Plus Louli was the nickname my Tante Leila gave me as a boy in Cairo.

The choice seems rather clear.

Yalla.

===> LATE BREAKING NEWS

Christian Estrosi just announced he will run for mayor in a special election to be held on Monday 5/15/17. The playboring ex race car driver was a supporter of Macron, but is also a known racist of long standing. If you read French, you can scope out his long-term vile anti-Arab remarks here. He will probably become mayor orf Nice next week. That seals the deal. So, Viva Macron, and Viva la France, but piss off Nice and its underlying patina of pieds-noirs racism. Paris is the only place to live in France for an American Liberal who wishes to partake of the diverse cultural milieu of a large, progressive Western capital without being stuck in some French version of the hellhole that is Florida where things “keep on living despite the fact that they are beyond repair.” (quote from Malcom Lowry documentary, Volcano: An Inquiry.)